


Under my skin there is fire (Under my skin there is fear)

by Amegrahu12



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Stabbing, lots of blood, oof, post-5x05, so im home and decided to actually finish this wip
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-17
Updated: 2020-03-17
Packaged: 2021-02-28 16:35:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23180284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amegrahu12/pseuds/Amegrahu12
Summary: What if after Riproar was killed, Leviathan went after the people investigating them? What if they sent Andrea after William and Kara?...Or a post-5x05  fic that no one asked for and I took way too long finishing.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 27





	Under my skin there is fire (Under my skin there is fear)

**Author's Note:**

> So i started this shortly after the episode aired and then left it for a really long time. Oops. Now i'm stuck at home for a while and going through my fics and I was like oh yeah. That one. I never finished it. So here we are.
> 
> Title from "The Fear" by @TheQuietQuill
> 
> As always thanks to GreenDogs56 who beta'd everything except the last three paragraphs of this thing. You guys should all check out their work, it's great!

The white-bearded man from the airport escorted Andrea back to her apartment. His hands were calloused on her shoulders as he steered her inside. She barely even noticed. 

All she saw was the look on Russell’s face as he fell. 

Andrea was deposited with the simple order: “Clean yourself up.” 

She was standing in front of the sink, Andrea realized. There was something on her face; she reached to wipe it away. It smeared. Blood. Her right hand froze, still pressed against her cheek. It was caked in red. She pulled it down and stared at it, raising her left. It too was stained. 

Taking a shuddering breath she turned on the sink. She could smell it now, coppery and thick and choking her. Andrea let out a stifled sob. She scrubbed her hands under the hot spray. She couldn’t get it off. She couldn’t get it off. She couldn’t get it off. Why wouldn’t it come off? Her hands were rubbed raw and she grabbed a towel to continue the furious scrubbing. Her face, her neck, her wrists, her hands. It covered her hands. She would never get it off. The smell choked her as she sank to her knees, crumpling against the cold tile. 

“We warned you.” Andrea shot up, clambering backwards on all fours until she hit the wall. The old woman smiled at her, “We warned you that you couldn’t escape us.” 

“What do you want?” Andrea’s voice shook but she held firm, “Haven’t you taken enough? What more could you possibly want?” 

The woman’s smile only widened, “Chaos my dear. Though, for right now, I’d take you cleaning up your mess.” 

Andrea wiped the remnants of tears from her cheeks, “What mess?”

“You’ve been careless again, Andrea. Your friends Mr. Dey and Ms. Danvers have not been.” 

Andrea shook her head, “What? William and Kara— What do they have to do with anything?” The woman held out a cylindrical device.

“They’ve been investigating you and done a very good job of it.” The smile twisted into a harsh glare. “We cannot afford this to fail. Go to this address, activate and hide this device, it will prevent any interruptions by Supergirl or her friends. Destroy their evidence and kill them. Then I want you to go to Catco and the other address listed and destroy any more evidence you find.” 

Andrea recoiled, “No. No. I’m not going to— You’re wrong. They aren’t— William’s a friend and Kara’s just some reporter! They’re not— You can’t—” Andrea broke off, her eyes wide and desperate. That eerie grin returned. 

“Can’t what, dear?” The old woman’s eyes were icy, her smile cruel. “Have you forgotten our bargain? You’ve lost so much, it would truly be a shame to lose what little you have left.” 

… 

Kara was, in a word, exhausted. They discovered Russell Roger’s body in a back-alley a couple of hours after his disappearance from the DEO. A single gunshot wound to the center of the chest, quick, efficient, precise. A bullet they were unable to trace and a naked body wiped of all evidence. Perfect. William had thrown himself back into the investigation, checking every source every piece of fuzz left on Russell’s body. Right now he was bent over the desk, looking quite as though he wanted to repeatedly ram his face into it. 

“William—” She paused, then sighed. “You should take a break.” 

His head snapped up, eyes blazing. Kara raised a preemptive hand, “I’m not saying we’re giving up. Just that we’ve been staring at the same papers for three hours and we haven’t learned anything new. You’ve already been working yourself ragged with this investigation for days. You should eat, maybe take a nap.” If anything, these words only enraged him more.   
“I am not going to take a damn _nap_ while the people who murdered Russell are still out there! Those bastards murdered my best friend and I am going to make them pay.” 

“Something you will not accomplish driving yourself into a wall!” Kara looked at him, eyes creased and lips pursed. “I know how you feel. I know how desperate and angry you are but this,” She gestured down at the empty coffee cups and scattered pages, “is helping nothing.” 

William’s lip curled, “You know how I feel? You? You’re Kara Danvers, for you, the world is all smiles and sparkles and rainbows. You have everything.”His finger jabbed into her chest. “How could you possibly understand what this feels like?” Kara stiffened, her shoulders drew back. William flinched,  
“Believe it or not William, you are not the only one who doesn’t broadcast the unhappy details of your life. You don’t know me. You don’t know what I’ve gone through or what I’ve lost. But I do know you. And understand this, I do know how you feel and burying yourself in this will only bring you more sorrow. You need a break. You need to let yourself grieve.” 

Kara shook her head and sagged, “I’m sorry for yelling but you needed to listen. I am truly sorry for what has happened, William.” She rested a hand on his arm, “I am so, so sorry.” 

William looked up, finally meeting her gaze. Unshed tears glistened in his eyes. He opened his mouth to speak— something was wrong— a rush of air—her comms were offline-- something was very wrong— it was too quiet-- a figure in the shadows— 

“William get down!” Pain flashed through Kara’s chest, she flew backwards and collided with the evidence board. Vaguely, she was aware of the sounds of wood splintering as the board collapsed around her. Her head was spinning. Her ears rang. Kara clambered roughly to her feet, coughing. Something dripped down the side of her face. The shadowy assailant had their back to her, William backed towards the door, his eyes wide. Kara grabbed a wooden post from the wreckage of the board and flung it as hard as she could at the figure’s head. 

“Run!” The figure turned and vanished just as the post flew through where her head should have been. They rematerialized several feet to Kara’s left. William was gone. The figure, a woman, Kara realized, let out an angry yell at his disappearance. She looked… distinctly familiar. “You don’t have to do this.” The woman melted back into the shadows. Something hard and wooden slammed across Kara’s back. Stars danced in her eyes as her head struck the floor. A pair of dark boots stepped into her line of sight. 

“I know about Russell. I know they killed him.” She pushed herself backward, on to her hands and knees. 

The woman froze, “You don’t know anything.” 

Kara stood. “I know that if you were coming to kill him, you wouldn’t have gone to the trouble of removing him from his restraints or taking him out of the DEO alive.” She stepped backwards. 

“I know that the shot that killed him was long distance, and that it doesn’t fit your M.O.”

If she could get to the kitchen drawers…

“What do they have on you? I can help you. We can help you. But you have to let us.” The woman shook her head. 

“No one can help me. You can’t even help yourself.” 

Kara had about two second’s warning before the woman dashed towards her. Kara ducked and rolled, sprinting towards the kitchen. The woman moved through the shadows again, rematerializing at the kitchen door, an arm raised to strike. Kara caught her fist and twisted it behind her back. Wrapping her legs around the woman’s neck, Kara dropped her to the floor and resumed her pelt into the kitchen. A hand caught around her right ankle. Sharp pain flared in her elbows as they slammed into the beginnings of tile. She twisted, catching the assailant’s face with a harsh stomp. Kara scuttled forward. 

Third drawer to the right and two down. 

She slammed it open and grabbed her prize. The woman lunged. Fingers wrapped in Kara’s hair. She stabbed. The knife plunged into the woman’s left calf. Barely pausing to rip it back out of the woman’s leg, Kara scrambled towards the apartment door, hands sliding on tile slick with blood. She got two steps into the living room before the woman appeared from a shadow near her and, despite teetering dangerously on one leg, tackled her to the ground. The knife clattered to the floor. The woman grabbed for the knife. Kara’s kick caught her in the knee. They rolled. Kara trapped the woman’s left arm and slammed her face down against the floor. 

“I know you’re scared.” Her voice was slurring. Why was it doing that? “Let us help you.” 

The woman looked so familiar. She sounded familiar. Why was she so familiar? Kara was sure she should know. The woman’s fingernails dug into her wrists. Her head was still spinning. Tired. She was so tired. The woman vanished.

“I told you. No one can help me.” A slight breeze-- The knife lashed down just as Kara twisted away. She grasped the woman’s wrists and rammed her forehead into the woman’s nose. Blood dripped onto her face. 

So tired. 

Why was the world so hazy? Kara threw the knife across the room and clawed her way towards the door.  _ Get out. _ She needed to get out. A flicker of shadow. Pain flashed across her back.  _ Shit _ . The woman’s hands tangled in Kara’s hair and she was dragged back away from the door. Away from salvation. Kara’s back hit the floor. The woman’s knee pressed against her sternum. Blood spread across the hardwood. The woman shifted her weight, knees trapping Kara’s legs and her left arm pinning her wrists. She hesitated. The knife was in the air, poised and ready, and the woman just froze, staring into Kara’s eyes. She let out a shuddering breath. 

“I’m sorry.” Something wet dripped onto Kara’s cheek. The woman was crying, her shoulders trembled. Her hands shook. “I’m so, so sorry.” The knife came down.

… 

“Director Danvers, I have scanned the web for any trace of Russell Rogers or Riproar. I believe I have discovered why he was killed.” Alex jumped to her feet so suddenly that Brainy flinched backwards. 

“What did you find?”

“It appears that Rogers was attempting to flee the country. He and a woman purchased a flight from an airstrip known to be unscrupulous in its identification practices. I have not managed as of yet to find the woman but she was certainly in the company of Russell Rogers.”

“You think they were trying to defect.” 

“We know that Rogers was blackmailed by an organization called Leviathan to act as their mercenary and that there is a 98.69% probability that, once Russell Rogers was compromised to an organization like this, he would lose all value as a hostage other than as an example to motivate other hostages. Specifically, the woman with him.” Alex nodded, 

“Then we need to find this woman. I’ll get Kara and William, they might be able to figure out who she is.” After a week of dead-end after dead-end, a vague lead was better than water in a desert. 

… 

_ Another inch _ .  _ Just one more inch _ . Kara choked on the blood filling her mouth. Her fingers ached where the nails were being pulled out with the strain of dragging her body along. She had to get to the door. There was a fire alarm beside it. She had to— Kara swallowed a sharp cry as she sagged back into the floor.  _ So much blood. Get to the door? The door might as well be miles away instead of a few feet. _ She could see where her phone lay, smashed to pieces. She hoped William had gotten out. She hoped he was alive at least. Harsh coughs shook ragged lungs. More blood spattered the wood paneling. It was so cold. Why was it so cold? 

_ Oh, this must be shock,  _ she thought belatedly. 

Kara shivered, curling inwards.  _ So cold.  _ Darkness pooled at the edges of her vision...

“—ara? Kara!” Hands pulled at her shoulders, rolling her. Light. A face, it was blurry. “Kara look at me! Damnit!.” Pain. Hands were pressing her stomach. “—tor Danvers. I need immediate Med-Evac from 2224 west Jameson avenue. Have Brainy bring over a med team. He’ll be faster than transpo. Multiple stab wounds, heavy blood loss, unknown time frame.” Kara blinked as the words settled in on her as if through a haze.  _ Alex?  _

“Hey. Yeah, it’s me.”

“It’s cold.” 

“Yeah, You’ve lost a lot of blood. Can you tell me what happened?” 

“Shhhadow lady. Ther’ waz fight. William got out.” Her words were harsh and garbled, every statement the effort of a marathon. Kara coughed. “Air hurts.” Alex gave a watery laugh. 

“Yeah, I bet it does. Just keep talking, okay. What else can you tell me? Why aren’t your powers working?” 

“I dunno. Stopped right be-fore she came. I got’er leg with th’ knife. Sh-she was sad. Cry-ing. Sh-she said sorry. She-she looked familiar.”  _ So tired.  _ A wet hand slapped against her face, 

“No no no! Keep your eyes open. The woman was familiar. Why?” 

“Face. posst-ture. Voiccce.” A blast of wind. 

“Brainy. Thank god.” More hands pressed against her stomach, something went over her face, an oxygen mask. “Kara, why? Do you know her from somewhere?”  _ So cold.  _ She wanted to sleep. She wanted to be warm. 

“Kara! Kara! How far out is transpo?”  _ So tired.  _ Someone responded to Alex but Kara didn’t hear.  _ So tired.  _

Alex cursed, pressing her hands harder against the bloody wounds. How could this have happened? 

“Brainy! Check the building for a power dampener. Something has to be blocking her powers and someone call J’onn. We need to find William Dey!” Brainy returned less than a minute later, a thin, faintly glowing device in his hands. 

“It appears to be a rudimentary design for a localized disruptor. It acts like a continuous EMP for alien abilities.” 

“Well, turn it off!” Brainy nodded and fiddled with the black cylinder. Suddenly Kara gasped. Her body went rigid as every muscle in her body seized at once. Horrible creaking rasps escaped Kara’s lips as she convulsed, muscles spasming together 4 times before she went deathly limp against the floor. The medics stared. Alex prayed. One of the medics, Hartley, cut open her shirt. Blood flowed out from angry red gashes covering her abdomen. Alex’s stomach dropped. 

“Kara?” She bent over her sister and checked her pulse, weak but there. “Why isn’t she healed? Her powers are back!” 

“Ma’am, I think she did.” Hartley wilted under Alex’s burning gaze. “Somewhat at least.” Alex grabbed a handful of gauze and replaced another medic’s pressure. Brainy motioned for Hartley to continue. Hartley hurriedly pressed forward.

“The bleeding changed. It’s a lot slower” Brainy nodded slowly, 

“It is possible that such a sudden and heavy drain on her solar energy stores could send her body into a type of shock. Her body abruptly lost large storages of solar energy and she had the physical trauma… Yes. If the loss was extreme enough her body might panic and shut down all solar usage outside of necessary functions like metabolizing food and breathing, much like when she solar flares. She reacquires the lost solar energy in an hour or two just living under the yellow sun, but her powers remain on lockdown for 24-48 hours.” Alex grit her teeth. 

“Necessary functions— Brainy she’s  _ bleeding _ to death! I’d say healing is a fairly necessary function!” 

“But not a regular one. Her body prioritizes breathing over healing.” Alex only shook her head and let out another string of curses. 

“—and where the hell is transpo?” As if on cue, 3 more medics with a gurney appeared in the doorway. Alex was pushed away as they swarmed around her sister. 

“1... 2... 3... Up.” Kara was completely limp as they placed her on the gurney.

“Jackson get the EKG set up while I start an I.V. line.” Her pulse was barely at 45. 

“Director Danvers, I need you to give me an injury profile.” Brainy placed a hand on Alex’s shoulder. Kara was too pale, her fingertips were tinged with blue. 

“Alex.” His other hand found the opposite shoulder. “Alex. You need to focus.” She blinked, 

“Right. I found her 8 minutes ago bleeding profusely from multiple stab wounds.” The gurney pulled away as Dr. Hamilton motioned for her to follow and continue. “She was conscious when I arrived but delirious and had pain with breathing and obvious difficulty speaking. I checked her pupils, which were blown, leading me to suspect a head injury, possibly a concussion. There also seems to be some unimportant but widespread bruising across her back which I would associate with the fight she mentioned.” 

“1... 2... 3... Up.” The gurney lifted into the back of the ‘ambulance’. “Director I will see you at the DEO.” 

“Wait!” Hamilton turned, hanging halfway out of the back. “Sun lamps. You’re going to need sunlamps.” The doctors froze. Each of them turned to stare at their patient. Hamilton cleared her throat and nodded. 

“Understood. Will you call ahead to prep them?” Alex returned her nod. The doors swung shut. Alex pulled out her phone. She had calls to make. 

… 

William Dey had seen his fair share of danger. He was investigating a murderous crime ring for god’s sake. But this… Superheroes. A woman teleporting through shadows. His best friend used and thrown away like trash. He angrily scrubbed away tears, there was no time for this. He had to get help. He never saw Kara get out. She could be hurt. She could be… His fingers fumbled with the buttons on a stranger’s phone. It had taken him 6 tries but someone had finally let him borrow theirs. The phone rang once, twice, a third ring brought William to a near panic and then… 

“Who is this? How did you get this number?” William let out a desperate sigh of relief. 

“Alex Danvers? Is that you? It’s William Dey.” 

“William D--” He heard shouting on the other end of the line, “Stay where you are. I’m sending an agent to pick you up.” 

“Wait! What about Kara? Did she make it out? Is she okay?” A strangled breath filtered through the speakers. 

“Just stay there.” 

“Director, please, is she oka--”  _ BEEP.  _ The call disconnected. William ran a hand through his hair.  _ She was okay. She had to be okay. Damnit he’d brought her into this mess, she HAD to be okay.  _ He thrust the phone back to the stranger with a harried “Thanks”. A harsh blast of wind flattened the grass around him. 

“Director Danvers sent me to retrieve you. Are you injured?” Blinking rapidly, William squinted at a man he vaguely remembered seeing in the interrogation room with Russell.  _ What had they called him? Bart? Barney? No, Brainy. _

“I’m fine. Is Kara okay? Her sister wouldn’t tell me anything.” Brainy looked away and William looked-- truly looked-- at him for the first time. Brainy’s eyes were red and his jaw clenched. He twisted at a ring on his left hand nervously. Brainy cleared his throat.

“She’s at the DEO. I can take you to her.” William only nodded, unsure-- and quite afraid-- of what exactly he was going to find. 

…

“I don’t care if she’s busy, I need to talk to her.” There was a pause as Alex listened to someone on the other side of the phone. “That’s classified,” Another pause, Alex’s face tightened with rage. “Well, I could tell her personally if you would put her on the damn phone!” Brainy cleared his throat. Alex jumped. Catching his eye she held up a finger and returned to her call. “Yes, I’ll leave a message.” She hurriedly muttered into the phone something too low for William to hear before turning, “William, are you hurt?” William shook his head, staring in unconcealed horror at Alex. 

She was covered in blood. Her hands were stained, and red streaks marred her face where she had pushed back her hair. Her black uniform had dark spatters across the chest and stomach. Her eyes were puffy and red, he could see tear-tracks on her cheeks. Alex glanced down across her blood-stained uniform and hands; she looked as though she might vomit. Shaking herself, she turned a steely gaze on William. 

“I need to know what research you had in that apartment. The physical copies of files you had were mostly destroyed, as well as the computers.” 

“I-- I don’t know. We had the medical examiners report, old files on Russell’s-- Riproar’s movements, an almost empty file on that shadow person who broke into the DEO… Basically nothing. Most of our files were moved to the DEO. I think Kara kept some in her apartment but I don’t know where. Director, where is she?” Alex took a shaking breath, avoiding his eyes. 

“Kara was hurt, badly. She is in surgery right now but…” Tears gathered in her eyes, “It… uhh… it doesn’t look good.” 

William dropped his head into his hands. What had he done? 

Alex cleared her throat. “Kara said the attacker looked familiar. Do you know why?” 

He shook his head. “I didn’t really get a good look at her. Kara told me to run and…” His shoulders shook. “I just left her there. God help me, I just left her there.” A hand settled on his shoulder, it was Brainy. 

“Perhaps you should sit.” Alex began to pace, mouth muttering furiously as she worked through idea after idea. As the minutes grew to double-digits, Brainy seemed to gather his own courage, “Director,” He caught Alex’s arm. “Director!” Alex turned and Brainy flinched under her gaze. He swallowed and continued, “perhaps you should sit also.” Nothing short of bare, murderous fury exploded from Alex. 

“No. No, damnit.” She rounded on William. “You have to know something. Anything.” Tears rolled down her cheeks. “How did Leviathan find out about you? How did this happen?” William flinched,

“I don’t know. I swear. I haven’t told anyone and apart from the DEO neither did Kara!” 

“They stabbed her 8 times!” A shaking finger jammed into William’s chest “They stabbed my sister 8 times! She is dying! You have to know something! Please,” The last came out barely higher than a whisper, her hands gripped the lapels of his shirt. “Please know something.” A large African-American man clasped Alex’s shoulders, pulling her away.

“Alex, he doesn’t know anything. Come on.” The broad, African-American man pulled her into his chest. She sank to her knees with his arms still around her. “It’s okay. It’s okay.” 

… 

Lena was angry. That in and of itself was not uncommon these days-- but the subject of her anger was not one Kara Danvers, or Supergirl, or whatever her name really was. Right now it was the arrogant, chauvinistic, dumpster fire of a human being who was sitting across the desk from her. He was a representative of Lord Tech--  _ Of course, he was. Of course, that irritating buffoon of a CEO couldn’t hire a single man who didn’t stare openly at her breasts. Of-Fucking-Course--  _ and he was making short work of her extremely limited remaining patience. 

“Thank you for your time Mr. Graham, I will think on your ideas.” The self-satisfied smirk that spread over his face curdled her stomach, “However, the next time Maxwell wants to run a proposal, I expect him to appear personally.” 

The grin slid off Graham’s face.  _ Good. Eat shit.  _ He stalked angrily from the room and almost toppled into Lena’s new (or rather reinstated) assistant Jess. 

“Ms. Luthor, there was a call for you from Alex Danvers, she used both her professional and personal number and was rather insistent. She left a message.” Lena sighed. What was the phrase, no rest for the wicked? 

“I’ll call her. Thank you, Jess.” The shorter woman nodded and vanished from the doorway. Idly, Lena wondered what crisis the DEO wanted her help with today. She glared at the phone, before slowly (and not a little reluctantly) opening her voicemails. 

_ “Lena!” _ Alex’s voice sounded odd, almost like she was…  _ “Lena, something’s happened. You need to get to the DEO right now, I can explain when you get here but-- God, just hurry.” _ A pit formed in the base of Lena’s stomach. Throwing down the phone she grabbed the remote on her desk and flipped to the news.  _ Nothing _ . A story on influenza spreading through Elementary Schools. She changed the channel: a story rerunning clips of Dreamer stopping the tidal wave. She changed it again, again, again.  _ Nothing. How could it be nothing? _ Alex had sounded panicked, but there was no battle, no attack, not even Supergirl. The pit grew. Lena pressed her intercom, 

“Jess, send a car around. I’ll be driving myself.” 

… 

There was nothing that could have prepared Lena for the sight of Alex, J’onn’s arms wrapped around her, sobbing and covered in blood. J’onn looked up as she entered. His jaw tightened and he avoided her eyes. 

“Alex?” Lena’s voice was shaking. She cleared her throat and spoke more firmly. “Alex, what happened?” 

Alex looked up. Red-rimmed eyes met Lena’s and she felt her heart stop. She wasn’t here. She should be here. She wasn’t-- “Alex, where is Kara?” 

A horrible, choked noise ripped from Alex’s mouth. J’onn stood. 

“She’s in surgery. She and William Dey--” J’onn gestured behind her, where Dey and Brainy stood. “were attacked. Mr. Dey got out. Kara didn’t.” Lena took a shuddering breath, shaking her head. 

“But-- but Kara--” She glanced at William before staring at J’onn, praying he would understand what she could not risk voicing. He nodded, 

“Lena, why don’t you go help Alex clean up. Do you know where the locker rooms are?” He barely waited for her assent. “Mr. Dey, I understand that you are having difficulties remembering anything relevant, and I may have a solution, if you are okay with it.” Dey stepped forward, hands twisting, 

“Anything. Please.” J’onn gave him a small smile, 

“I think you want to know what I am suggesting before you agree.” The familiar red glow engulfed him and Dey gaped as the now over 7ft tall martian towered over him. Lena paid no attention to the events taking place behind her, grabbing Alex’s hand and helping her to her feet. They walked quickly (well, Lena walked quickly, Alex had to keep up) to the locker room where Alex made a beeline for the sink. With the splashing of water echoing around them, Lena almost didn’t hear when Alex finally spoke. 

“They had a power dampener. Set it up in the apartment next door and attacked.” Alex’s eyes never left the pink water running down the drain. “We don’t know if they knew Kara was Supergirl or if they just didn’t want any rescue attempts. Kara’s certainly interrupted enough of their assassinations to warrant it.” 

Alex’s hands clawed at the zipper of her uniform. They were shaking to heavily to operate it. Lena caught her wrists and undid the zipper.

“Thanks.” Alex cleared her throat. “Kara was-- Kara was stabbed repeatedly in the stomach.” 

Lena let out a soft curse. Alex hissed as she peeled off a sleeve stuck to her skin with congealed blood. “She was still awake when I got there but delirious. She said--” She let out a harsh bark of a laugh, “She said the woman who attacked her was crying, that she kept apologizing.” Alex tugged on a DEO branded T-shirt. “Woman was probably another one of Leviathan’s forced assassins.” 

“Are there any suspects? Dey could give a description.”

“We don’t need one. We have camera footage of her in this building.” Lena’s head jerked up, 

“Then what the hell are we doing here? Who is it?”

“We don’t know who she really is. It’s that woman who attacked you and then the DEO, the one who moves through shadows.” Lena froze. 

_ No.  _

Her breath came in short gasps.  _ No, no, no, no, no.  _ “Lena?” She staggered backward.  _ She couldn’t have. Andrea… _ “Lena-- Shit!” Lena felt a trash bin shoved into her hands and promptly emptied her stomach into it. Her hands clasped at metal lockers as she pushed herself backwards.

“I-- I have to go.” 

“Lena, wait!” Understanding flared across Alex’s face. Grief, hurt and anger all burned in her eyes. “You know who it is.” The words weren’t angry. They weren’t even accusatory. 

“Yes.” 

“How?”

“Because she came to me for help.” Lena took a steadying breath. “I’m the one who helped her break into the DEO.” Alex jerked backwards. 

“She said she wanted to help someone. That the people she worked for wanted to kill him, and if they knew what she was doing they’d kill her too. I didn’t-- I just wanted-- I didn’t know she’d--” Gentle arms wrapped around Lena’s shoulders and held her. 

“I know you’d never knowingly help someone hurt my sister, Lena. We know that Leviathan isn’t very scrupulous in how they recruit members. That man she tried to rescue, Russell Rogers, we found his body about 3 hours ago. He was shot with a sniper rifle, an M40 by my guess.” Alex’s hands settled on her arms. “Who is she?”

“Andrea Rojas.” 

Alex swore.

… 

Andrea let her head fall back against the wall. Her hands tightened on the makeshift bandage on her leg.  _ Shit. Shit.  _ She glanced around the ransacked apartment. A smiling Kara hugged her sister in a cracked photo near her feet. She reached her hand out to the shadow pooling a couple inches to her right and watched as the blood around her leg evaporated into the shadows with her. She appeared in her apartment standing and cursed as she toppled over toward her couch. She let out a sharp cry as her injured leg hit the ground. She hadn’t expected Kara to fight. She hadn’t thought she even knew how to. 

“You missed one.” Andrea nearly jumped out of her skin. The old woman stepped carefully around Andrea’s bloodied rug. 

“Go fuck yourself.” A single grey eyebrow rose. 

“Well that’s a bit rude.” A short bark of a laugh tore from Andrea’s throat. 

“A bit rude? Kara was innocent. She was naive and ridiculously chipper, sure, but... she was kind. She was a good person. Her work saved lives.”

“You are doing what needs to be done.” Andrea’s entire body moved with the force of her shaking her head. 

“No. No! This is wrong. This is evil. You want to talk about what needs to be done? I need-- We need to be stopped.” Andrea hugged her knees to her chest. “This is over. I’m done. Kill me if you want, I don’t care. I can’t do  _ this _ anymore.” 

The woman’s lips quirked in a barely visible smile. “I told them you were more than they thought. Pity. You were an excellent resource.” 

The old woman raised her arm. A pistol gleamed in her gnarled fingers. Andrea just stared down the barrel. The gun cocked. Harsh knocking shook the door.

“Andrea Rojas? FBI, open up.” Andrea looked to the door. The old woman’s head jerked up, her fingers slid-- Pain exploded across Andrea’s side. 

… 

“Rojas is to be considered armed and dangerous. She has the ability to move through the shadow and should not be underestimated. You are all armed with flash-grenades, do not hesitate to use them. Remember she has the resources to escape most criminal charges and therefore likely will not reveal herself unless she absolutely has to. She is unaware that we know her powers. This means we have an opportunity to catch her unprepared.”

Another thing to note: she may not be doing this of her free will. Leviathan has a history of blackmailing and/or using hostages to force employment. Everybody ready?” Alex’s voice rang in the tight quarters of a DEO issue van. A chorus of ‘yes ma’am’ echoed from half a dozen mouths. Alex nodded. The door slammed open.

“Let’s go.” 

...

The lobby was easy to manage: 15 or so employees who backed down immediately after a badge was shoved in their face. Jackson’s fist pounded the door 3 times. His voice, clear and resonant announced their arrival-- 

_ BANG.  _

Jackson swore. The door came down with a splintering crash, Alex’s foot still hanging partially in mid-air where she had kicked it, and her gun cocked and ready. A pool of blood spread across expensive paneled floors. 

Andrea Rojas laid curled slightly in on herself, hands pressed to her abdomen. Alex rolled her onto her back. Deja vu settled uncomfortably around her shoulders. Scissors were thrust into Alex’s hands and another agent applied pressure to the wound as Alex cut away Andrea’s pants. The bullet had lodged itself just shy of Andrea’s right hip, and the woman whimpered as the agent squeezed. Blood poured from the wound like a burst tank. Alex cursed again,  _ it was bleeding too much too fast. _ To Andrea’s credit, she didn’t cry. She laid there and stared Alex in the eye and summoned as much courage and composure as anyone bleeding to death on their living room floor with mascara smeared across their cheeks could muster and she spoke. 

“You’re her sister, right? Alice?” Andrea shook her head. Her breaths were sharp and fast, beads of sweat trickled off her chest. “No. Al-- Alyssa?” 

“Alex.” Andrea swallowed down another pained groan. 

“Yeah. Alex. She-- She mentioned you, a couple times. Face lit up like a damn-- nggh...” Andrea grit her teeth against the pain, squeezing her eyes shut in an attempt to combat the encroaching darkness. “--a damn christmas tree.” 

She took a shuddering breath and swallowed, suddenly avoiding Alex’s eyes. Her pulse came too quickly, her fingertips were tinged with blue. “Is she alive?” 

Alex nodded. “Barely.” 

A smile passed across Andrea’s face. She let out a breath of relief. “Good. That’s good.” 

The agent clasping Andrea’s wounds, Henderson, looked up at Alex with poorly concealed desperation. Blood poured from between his fingers. He knew as well as she did-- Andrea Rojas would not live to see the morning. 

“I didn’t want to. She’s a good person. They said-- they threatened my father. I-- I didn’t want to.” Her eyelids fluttered against clouded vision. 

“Ms. Rojas, Listen to me.” Alex took hold of her head, tipping it upwards. “You need to tell me who you worked for in Leviathan. I need to know who ordered the hit on Kara.” 

Andrea just shook her head, brow furrowed and lips pressed. “You don’t-- You don’t get it, do you?” 

Dark eyes stared up at Alex-- eyes full of fear and pain and grief and rage. “I don’t know who they are. I don’t know what they are. The one who usually came to me was an old woman, but a man did once too. They didn’t give names, just ultimatums. Leviathan is everywhere.” Limp, clammy hands clutched desperately at Alex’s wrists. “Knows everything. Can do anything. Go anywhere. Get anyone to do anything. And they are coming.” 

The ambulance was still 5 minutes out. There wasn’t time. “Ms. Rojas, I need you to keep talking. Okay? Where did you first meet them?” 

“Mnggh-- cave.”

“A cave? Where?”

Andrea’s hands slipped from their grasp of Alex’s wrists. 

“Ms. Rojas?” The only noise in the room was the steady dripping of blood. 

“Andrea!” Andrea Rojas did not see Henderson stand. She did not hear the growing ringing of sirens from the street. She did not feel Alex close her eyes. She didn’t feel anything. 

… 

It only took Lena a single searching look at Alex’s face to know what had happened. Her hands curled to fists. Her left one clutched her stomach. Alex watched the emotions flit across her face-- guilt, anger, grief-- and be shoved down and washed away by a mask of stoney apathy. 

“Leviathan got there first.” Alex ran a bloodied hand through her hair. “Tying up loose ends I suppose.” Lena only nodded. “She was still alive when we got in but…” Alex sighed. “The bullet lacerated her femoral artery and she already had a stab wound in her left thigh. She was dead before the ambulance got there.” Lena nodded again, this time looking distinctly ill. Alex cleared her throat. “Any updates about Kara?” Any hopes Alex had of a miraculous recovery died upon seeing Lena’s expression. 

“A surgical assistant popped by just before you arrived to say that they’re closing her up.”

“And?” Lena turned, staring out to the balcony with her eyes firmly fixed on the horizon. 

“And,” Alex watched her ponytail swing as she sighed. “She’s alive, Alex. Her body is alive. She has a good shot, they think, of healing her body. As for her mind…” Lena turned and finally looked Alex in the eye. Her gaze burning with an intensity Alex hadn’t seen since the Daxamite invasion. “They said the next 24 hours will be illuminating.” Alex leaned against the wall, sliding down until she was sitting. Lena joined her on the floor. 

“Any updates on why Andrea decided to commit murder?” Lena sat stiffly as Alex explained what had transpired in Andrea’s apartment.  _ Leviathan found her in a cave? What cave had she-- Of course. The same cave she had found the medallion. The cave where Andrea had started lying.  _

“I know what cave she was talking about, but it isn’t useful information, just the place she found that damned medallion. It’s in my lab right now, being analyzed.” Alex nodded. 

“Tell me what you find. I presume Kara’s been moved to recovery?” Lena assented and they stood together to walk to Kara’s room. Alex took a bracing breath. 

“She’s survived so much. She can survive this.” Alex raised her chin. “She has to.”

…

Something was beeping. It was incessant, Kara wanted to shut it off but couldn’t find the energy. Her stomach  _ ached _ .  _ It was so dark. Why was it so dark? _ Oh, her eyes were closed. She tried to open them. A crack of blinding light burned into her vision.  _ Nevermind. Dark was okay.  _ Her limbs felt like they were made of lead. Rao, could someone please turn off that infernal beeping? There was some other noise in the room-- voices. Kara strained her ears, trying to pick up words. 

“--mage seems to be healing well. Her kidneys are back to perfect function, now it’s just a waiting game for when she wakes up.”

“It is a when, right?  _ When  _ she wakes up?” Alex was here. That was nice.

“Yes. I believe it is.” Something moved closer to her, Kara could see it’s shadow though her lids. A hand slipped into hers, thumb brushing her fingers. Kara cracked her eyes open again.  _ Who was that? _

… 

Lena brushed a stray lock of hair from Kara’s face, glancing down across the myriad of bandages.

“You altruistic asshole. Did you ever think maybe we might need you alive? We might need you safe?” She let out a harsh breath of air through her nose and shook her head.

“Oxymoron.” Lena froze.  _ What? _ She looked back at Kara’s face. Kara’s eyes were open! Barely, but still. “Altruistic asshole. That’s an oxymoron.” Somewhere behind her, Alex began to laugh. And with tears budding at the corners of her eyes, Lena joined her. Kara was okay. She was going to be okay. 


End file.
